Bancreek Capital Management LP Acquires 4,077 Shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA)

Bancreek Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) by 32.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,617 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 4,077 shares during the quarter. Murphy USA makes up about 5.2% of Bancreek Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Bancreek Capital Management LP’s holdings in Murphy USA were worth $8,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 49,501.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,874 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $191,664,000 after acquiring an additional 388,090 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Murphy USA by 0.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 245,220 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $102,797,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 204,363 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $95,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Murphy USA by 1.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 141,637 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $66,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp bought a new position in Murphy USA in the third quarter valued at $53,387,000. 80.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In other Murphy USA news, Director James W. Keyes sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.54, for a total value of $1,023,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,242,955.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.73% of the company’s stock.

Murphy USA Stock Performance

Shares of MUSA opened at $530.02 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The stock has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $496.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.46. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $350.55 and a 12-month high of $552.30.

Murphy USA (NYSE:MUSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty retailer reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.64 by $0.56. Murphy USA had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 62.73%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.69 earnings per share. Murphy USA’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 23.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a boost from Murphy USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Murphy USA’s dividend payout ratio is 7.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MUSA shares. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Murphy USA from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Murphy USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Murphy USA from $538.00 to $537.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Murphy USA from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $415.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Murphy USA from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $495.33.

Murphy USA Profile

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands, as well as operates non-fuel convenience stores. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States.